


forelsket

by axedance



Category: Fire Emblem Echoes: Mou Hitori no Eiyuu Ou | Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia
Genre: M/M, i absolutely had to write these dorks, i wish there were more fics for these two, i'm kinda embarrassed by how messy it is but i'll live, sleep was sacrificed but i did it, sorry if this sucks, welcome to gay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-02
Updated: 2018-08-02
Packaged: 2019-06-20 12:18:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,952
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15534081
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/axedance/pseuds/axedance
Summary: forelsket(n.) the intense, almost unreal feeling that comes with the beginning of love; when you start to fall in love.





	forelsket

"How come you never told me you were such a damn good shot Faye?" Tobin smiled in bemusement as the girl in question lowered her bow, a small smirk somewhat unlike her working its way onto her face.

"Well, I've always cared a lot about food. Enough to get it myself for sure. Thought it was only natural to work to get it myself, so yeah. I've had loads of practice." She walked cheerfully over to collect the pheasant she shot, gently removing the arrow before swinging it over her shoulder with a hum.

"Ready to head back? I think we've got enough."

Tobin laughs a little at that, straightening away from the tree he was leaning on with a huff. "More like you've got enough. I barely got anything this time around."

He moves to meet her as she turns, the both of them heading back down the sun-dappled path towards the village.

"Well, you can have some of mine. I don't have even half the mouths you have to feed, and we still have leftovers from last night, so it's really not a problem." Faye flicked one of her braids behind her with a shrug, walking slightly ahead of him despite her shorter legs.

"Eh, it's fine. I'm sure Ma and I can scrounge something up for everyone. We do it every night, practically." Tobin felt leaves fall into his hair as he passed under a few branches, but he didn't particularly care at the moment.

"Yeah, but do you honestly think that little rabbit you caught is enough for Gray? Let alone you?"

Tobin huffed, "Look who's talking. Remember that time you ate that whole pheasant by yourself?"

Faye flushes, and shoves him the best that she could while having several birds slung over a shoulder. "It was small! And I hadn't eaten anything before that. Besides, it's not like you haven't ever done that before."

He just laughs as he runs to catch up to her, and they continue on for a good few minutes before reaching the village. 

As they entered, Tobin felt a sense of complete peace wash over him, something he always felt in the village since he had gotten back from the war.

"Any plans for the rest of the day?" Faye's voice had gotten softer, considering the majority of the village was still waking up, and it took a beat for him realize she had spoken to him.

"Not really. Gray and I'll probably end up making sure the my siblings don't end up killing each other, like always. What about you?"

She shrugs, moving to avoid a large sack of flour right in her path. "I dunno. I should probably start packing for Celica's coronation, since we're leaving next week and all. Have you started yet?"

"Uh, nope. Gray's been bugging me forever to get a start on it, but he hasn't done it yet either." 

Faye snorted. "Well, that's certainly a suprise."

"Right?"

The walking came to a stop once they reached Faye's house, where Silque could be seen reading in the front, waiting for them like she did every morning. Tobin didn't miss the way her and Faye softened the instant they spotted each other, even with his general obliviousness towards such things.

Silque greeted Faye with a kiss, and Tobin with a smile as they entered, and after a bit of chatter, Tobin was off to the stables to check on Sloan, his mare. 

After that he dropped off the meat he and Faye had caught before heading towards Gray's house for their routine morning sparring session. He anticipated having to drag a disgruntled Gray from his bed and out the door, as usual, but he was proven wrong when he stepped inside, greeted with the sight of an apron-wearing Gray kneading dough aggressively, muttering curses as he tried to do that and cook meat at the same time. 

Tobin found the sight more than a little endearing, and he felt his cheeks flush brightly as Gray lifted an arm in an attempt to get flour off his cheek, which didn't help at all.

"Hey. Tobes. If you're just gonna stand there and gawk at me, you might as well do it while you're making me biscuits, if you ask me."

Tobin hadn't seen Gray move, but he was now standing right in front of him, holding out a wicked-looking knife with flour dusted all over it.

"You can start cutting up the dough, and I'll cook the meat. Sound good?"

Tobin makes sure Gray notices the smirk on his face as he accepts the knife, reveling in the fact that he was a good inch or so taller than him. "We both know I make way better biscuits than you do, so it sounds great to me."

Gray smirks right back, trying and failing to look cocky by tucking his hands into the pockets if his mother's pink apron. "Whatever, smart-ass. Just take your damn boots off. There's no way I'm letting you track mud into my kitchen."

Tobin rolls his eyes as he steps out of his boots, kicking them towards the door before moving towards the dough with the knife pointing downwards. "Since when has this been your kitchen?"

"Since about fifteen minutes ago when I started the meat, obviously. And did you know you have leaves in your hair? Not a bad look on you, but still."

Before he could reply, Gray lifted a hand up and easily swept the leaves out, smirking at his flushed face before heading to tend to the meat, whistling a tune that Tobin had heard countless times as a child, but had never learned the name of.

He couldn't help but notice how nice his hair felt after that, and now he wished that Gray would run his fingers through his hair again. And again. And again. And again. 

Damn it.

Huffing, Tobin gave himself a mental shake, trying to focus as he began to use a large and dangerous knife to cut dough (which he realized that it wasn't what the knife was designed to do, but whatever). Of course, it was then that his brain decided to ignore the whole cutting dough thing and focus on the Gray and his stupid pretty smile and stupid pretty hair and stupid pretty fingers thing.

Definitely not something Tobin was unused to thinking about, unfortunately.

Some of the things Gray said or did in regards to him could definitely be interpreted as flirty, and Tobin wasn't the only one who noticed. Both Kliff and Faye had mentioned it in the past, Kliff being annoyingly cynical and Faye being annoyingly skeptical when he claimed it was just Gray being Gray.

Alm had awkwardly brought it up once to him too, which had made Tobin come to the horrifying realization that basically everyone had read the situation that way, if the oblivious mess that was Alm had thought it notable enough to bring up to him.

The worst part was that he actually was, and still is, hopelessly in love with Gray. Which was problematic for many reasons, but mainly because all he used talk about was Clair. How beautiful she was, how strong she was...The list went on, and the longer it got, the more he had wanted to curl up in a hole and never come out.

It had taken a while for him to come to terms with the fact that he liked exclusively boys, and even longer for him realize that the boy he liked was Gray.

Or rather, the boy he was in love with.

Tobin was drawn out of his thoughts when he realized he had cut a finger while wrapped up in his own thoughts, and he was currently bleeding all over the dough, both his finger and the knife dripping excessively over it, and he wonders with a grimace how so much blood was coming out of one finger.

After squinting a little, he realized it was more than just one finger, and that he ruined the dough and that his hand hurt. A lot.

"Damn it." Tobin's smirk had dropped, and he was trying to see where the cuts were, but it wasn't very clear at all.

"What? Having a little trouble around my kitchen or-"

Gray broke off into a squawk when he saw all the blood, and he was immediately at his side to grab his hand for examination, getting blood all over his apron in the process.

"Wow, Tobin. Just wow. I gave you one job and you did this?" He clucks his tongue a few times, something Tobin knew he only did when he was concerned about something. "Come on, let's go get Faye."

Gray drags him out the door before he can get a word in, blood getting all over the both of them as Gray marches straight to Faye's door, flinging the door open without so much as a knock.

Which meant they were standing in the kitchen, covered in blood and out of breath as Faye, her family, and Silque gazed upon them with alarm, clearly right in the middle of their morning meal.

After a short, yet awkward bit of silence, Tobin moved to disentangle himself from Gray, feeling his face flush at the several pairs of eyes staring at him.

"Before you ask, the answer is no. This actually wasn't Gray's fault. "

~~~

"Hey, hold still. These cuts aren't gonna disinfect themselves you know." 

"Believe me, I know."

Faye dabbed the disinfectant potion on his hand as gently as she possibly could, but that didn't at all negate the fact that it burned like hellfire.

It had always been odd to him that staves didn't automatically cleanse wounds, but he supposed that would be just too convenient.

Silque had her staff ready to go as soon as Faye finished cleaning the cuts, and Gray was watching the whole scene without saying a word, arms crossed.

The whole thing was tense and awkward and Tobin felt dreadfully uncomfortable, considering after Silque used their staff to close the skin, it still itched and burned from the disinfectant.

There's another stretch of silence as Silque bustles out to put her staff away and Faye is wrapping bandages around his hand. (Gently, of course.)

But the quiet is broken by Gray, who Tobin suddenly notices looks thoroughly pissed.

"So, Tobin. You tell me. What makes you so out of it that you don't even notice when you nearly chop your hand off?" He spoke quietly, with a sharp undercurrent to his voice that was impossible to miss.

Tobin could tell him, he realized. He could tell Gray that it was all his fault for being so damn loveable and perfect and all that shit. Those things had absolutely caused him some grief in the past, and confessing to Gray right then and there didn't sound completely horrible to him.

But then he would feel obligated go find a hole to spend the rest of his life in(or something along those lines) and that did sound completely horrible.

So he opted for the less humiliating answer he could think of at the moment. 

"Uh, no offense, but I don't really think it's any of your business." 

He regretted say those words the instant they left his mouth, because seeing Gray's face crumple even for a split second made his heart hurt.

Of course, Gray being Gray, Tobin could practically feel the anger coming off of him as took a step forward, fists clenched. Faye looked between the two of them awkwardly as she wrapped up the extra bandages, probably trying to decided if she should get in between them or just back away.

"None of my business? You've gotten hurt around five times in the past week because and it's none of my business? You're my best friend, Tobin. So come on. Tell me what's going on with you."

Tobin frowned, trying to think of some way to get out if this situation without telling the truth. But Gray saw through it fairly easy, unfortunately.

"Come on, fess up." Gray is looking at him with raised eyebrows and an exasperated expression, and even Faye is eyeing him curiously, bandages strewn carelessly across her lap.

Tobin idly wonders if Silque was coming back, perhaps to save him from whatever fresh hell this was, but she didn't seem to be, and he really couldn't blame her.

He scratched his bandaged hand distractedly as he looked up to meet Gray's intense gaze, who happened to be in a proximity far too close for Tobin's liking.

"Why do you care so much anyway? You never got this worked up whenever I got hurt during the war, and this is way less serious you know." He's aware he sounds pretty bitchy, but he really was eager to get out of this situation, whatever it took.

Though it was pretty low of him to bring up the war, he realized.

He hears Gray take a sharp breath, and suddenly warm hands seized Tobin's collar as he was yanked up, so close to Gray's that he could feel his breath on his face.

And now his face was on fire. Fantastic.

"You wanna know why Tobin? Fine."

And suddenly Gray's lips were on his, fierce and warm and chapped and Tobin thought for a moment he had died and gone to heaven as he felt Gray's arms slide around his waist.

But it was over as soon as it started, and Gray storms out before he can say a thing, brushing past Silque as she stood next to the doorway, her surprised expression mirroring Faye's as they both stared at Tobin, speechless.

Tobin sinks back into the chair behind him, feeling tired and fluttery and so fucking confused.

"Hmph. I'm screwed, aren't I?"

~~~

Tobin's week had consisted of irritating feelings, advice, comfort food and avoiding Gray, but after recieving some words from Kliff that left him confused over the general purpose of them as a whole, he decided it was finally time to talk.

But of course, while he was figuring out what exactly he would say, he stumbled upon Gray himself under a tree, attempting to peel an orange with more than a little effort.

He hadn't quite noticed him yet, which gave Tobin the oppurtinity to speak first, so he felt a little better about that he supposed.

"So...You kissed me." Tobin was still standing behind Gray, already feeling his face start to heat up, and it had nothing to do with the morning sun. 

Gray didn't even turn as he continued to struggle peeling the orange, but he eventually cast it aside with a curse, moving over a little to make a spot for Tobin presumably.

"So I did. And I'm guessing you have a problem with that, since you've been avoiding me for the past seven days?" Gray speaks languidly, with a smile on his face, but there's a hint of defeat in his tone that Tobin just can't stand.

"Are you kidding me?" Tobin moves to sit in the spot right next to Gray and boldly takes his hands in his own, which were warm, and sticky from the orange. "Not to sound like a sap or anything, but I've been dreaming of that moment happening in a thousand different ways Gray. For like, five years. I do not have a problem with it whatsoever."

There's a moment of silence, and Tobin had a feeling he might have really fucked it up this time, but the look on Gray's face when he meets his eyes takes his breath away.

"Well, that's good to hear," Gray says with a genuine smile as he removes his hands from Tobin's to put his arms around his neck, drawing closer and closer until he was just a breath away from him. "Because I, for one, am very fucking in love with you Tobin."

And then they were kissing for real this time, and he knew it was cheesy, but Tobin's entire world just melted away into one place, and that place was with Gray.

They pulled away eventually, both trying to get their breath back as they drank in the sight of each other, and Tobin's entire being just felt soft.

"For the record," Tobin murmers, reaching up to caress Gray's cheek, "I'm very fucking in love with you too."

~~~

They stayed like that for what felt like hours. Kissing, talking, some more kissing...

"So," Gray says after they pull apart for the umpteenth time, "Would you say we're boyfriends now?"

"Well, yeah." Tobin leaned back into the tree they were under, pulling Gray closer to him with a content sigh.

"Great!" Gray smiles mischievously as he moves to straddle him, face getting teasingly close.

"You know what boyfriends do for each other, Tobin?" Gray whispered, and the way he said his name made Tobin's heart skip a beat.

"Hmph. How about you tell me?" Tobin slips his arms around his waist, and he feels Gray's warm fingers brush against the skin under his shirt. He leans in, eyes half-lidded and mouth twisted in a smirk, his breath on his ear.

"They do...this." And suddenly Gray's sticky orange from a few hours ago has somehow made it into Tobin's hand, and Gray himself had slid onto the grass next to with his head on his lap, stretching lazily with a coy smile on his face.

"That orange isn't gonna peel itself babe." Gray told him with a wink before making himself comfortable as a very flustered and somewhat bemused Tobin got to work.

What in the hell was he getting himself into?

**Author's Note:**

> wow. you can tell i wrote this at three a.m, and i'm really sorry about that.
> 
> but i actually am sorta proud of this considering how rusty i am writing so yeah. i hoped you enjoyed some of this, and thanks for reading beautiful human!


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